The "WAIF" (Wide Area Information Filtering) project
investigates structuring techniques for future-generation
large-scale distributed applications where we attempt to:
"Get rid of the traditional computer."
WAIF is focussing on
event-driven architectures supporting a more general
publish/subscribe paradigm. The overall goal is to avoid most
of the tedious client-server, session-based user interactions
dominating the Internet. In a broader perspective, this
potentially reduces the amount of time a user has to spend in
front of a traditional computer terminal.
WAIF is a new framework to facilitate easy user access for
Internet users to relevant news items. WAIF supports new kinds
of browsers, personalized filters, recommendation systems,
and-most importantly-an evolution path intended to enable
efficient deployment of new techniques that enhance the user
retrieval experience.
The environment we conjecture is a ubiquitous and pervasive
computing infrastructure where a single user (occasionally)
might be supported by thousands, or even millions of
computers.
WAIF is a joint project between the University of Tromsų,
Cornell University, and UC San Diego.